Note: This post will be in three parts, as I have a lot to say, but am also strapped for time with self-imposed deadlines. If I don’t get my thoughts down now, they will not be put down.

This was my second year at Superstars Writing Seminars, held in Colorado Springs. I have been to many second years, second meetings, second loves, second parties and campouts and on and on. Most times the second of an event is a disappointment as compared to the first. Not saying that seconds are bad. Most times they are very good, just not as good as the first. The first builds expectations that are seldom ever matched. I go into the second hoping it will be as good as the first, that experiences that were great will repeat, as if I’m putting a well-loved movie in the blu-ray to watch once again. But with real life it never happens. Almost.

It did happen with Superstars 2015, my return after the 2014 session. It was a return to old friends in a comfortable location. Not only the old, but the new, people I hadn’t met before and was very happy to acquaint myself with. The Antlers Hilton felt like a well prowled lair, comfortable, spacious and, most important of all, known. It was an uncrowded venue, with the exception of Friday night, and this year, at least for this camper, even that night of the Army Ball was much better.

Superstars is headlined by Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, his lovely wife and business/writing partner. The regular cast of characters were also present. Best sellers David Wolverton (David Farland) and Eric Flint, and the totally amazing James Artemis Owen, who is not only a bestselling writer, but also an amazing illustrator. Lisa Mangum, an editor at Wordfire Press, and Mark Leslie Lefebvre of Kobo were there in supporting roles. New cast included Toni Weisskopf, the publisher of Baen books; New York Times Bestseller Jody Lynn Nye; the well-known writing team of Kristin Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith, and Todd McCaffrey, son of Anne and a bestseller in his own right. I met Jody at the Dragon Con Writers Workshop, which she runs, in 2013, and saw her again at Liberty and Dragon Cons in 2014. I met Todd at the same workshop, where he was a guest speaker, and had seen him several times since. Toni, who I would dearly love to be my publisher, was someone I wanted to meet, though I talked to her briefly at Dragon Con 2014. And I am attending Dean and Kristin’s Anthology Workshop at the beginning of March, and it was nice to meet my instructors before actually flying out to work with what would otherwise have been strangers.

The workshop ran from Thursday morning through Saturday evening, with three sessions in the morning, an hour and a half lunch, and four in the afternoon, with a question and answer period with all the instructors/presenters at the end of each day. There was only a single track of sessions in the morning, and, something new this year, a double track in the afternoon, giving a choice of what the attendee wanted to learn. Like all such multiple tracks, just like at major cons, there were times I wanted to split myself in two so I could attend both (there might be a story in there somewhere).

On Friday evening, while the Army Ball was going on in the hotel (which entailed a mass of men and women in uniform clogging up the lobby) there was a VIP dinner in the nearby Phantom Canyon, just like last year. Last year I sat with Eric Flint, for a most enjoyable and instructive evening, which including some free signed books. This year I requested and got placed at the table with Toni Weisskopf, and again the free books were given. I wanted to get my face and name in front of the publisher of Baen books, which mission was accomplished. Whether anything comes of it remains to be seen, but it was fun talking with someone who is such a big part of modern science fiction, as well as being a historian of the older days of the field.

This year also featured professional photographer Lauren Lang, who was providing free author shots. Unfortunately, I had purchased professional pictures in September, so really didn’t have the need for more, but, having seen some of her other shots, the lady was very good. There was a presentation on ebooks from Mark Leslie Lefebvre, and one on Wattpad by Ashleigh Gardner. I intend to do some stuff with Wattpad as soon as I get enough time to breath, so the presentation was useful to me.

Lunch each day was spent with a random and different group of people, and was always a lot of fun. I had my moment of fame, same as last year, with the In The Indie Trenches panel, which I shared with Peter J. Wacks, Rhiannon Paille and Quincy Allen. Even the presentations that were again presented from last year were great. Kevin gave his Popcorn Theory of Publishing, and James again gave his Drawing the Dragons inspirational talk, which was still amazing the second time around.

All in all it was a great conference, well worth the time, money and travel. There was networking to be had, and I came away not only with more knowledge, but also some opportunities that presented themselves during the networking time. Never one to pass up opportunities, now it’s up to me to make the most of them. I would recommend this conference to anyone who wants to take the next step in their publishing career, as the wisdom of this group is phenomenal.

Part 2 of this blog will concern the interactions with professionals I engaged in and observed, and how much that added to the conference for this attendee. Part three will be about some of the other attendees, and how engaging in this process had led to some success in their writing careers.

In film making parlance, Exodus 4 is in the can. Coverted to mobi, cover ready, prepared for uploading. that will occur tomorrow, Friday, October 11, 2013. It should be up and running at the Amazon site by Saturday, October 12th. I have been getting a lot of questions about then this book was coming out. Well, here it is. It even includes a glossary in the Appendix. It does not include the line drawings of the ships that appear in books 1 through 3. For some reason those drawings would just not interact with Word 2010, even though I put them in their documents using that program. Now Word freezes up if I even look at more than two pages of those drawing, so they can just sit where they are. I figure that most people that are going to buy book 4 already have books 1 through 3. If not, well, I will be offering those books on special over the next couple of weeks. Book 3: The Rising Storm, has a new cover, sort of, and will go on sale for a new lower price. As you can see from the covers above I also have one for book 5, titled Ranger. It will be in the same time frame as book 4, but will focus on the story of Cornelius Walborski, farmer turned hero, who only wants to kill Cacas. It should be out by December, with a little luck. Thanks to Ruth de Jauregui for the lettering and framing of these covers.

The pacing is a little different in book 4 as well. Book 3 covered about a month, in 200K words. 4 covers almost a year and a half in 124,000 words. Some more subplots are opened, and will hopefully lead to even more books. As far as the short stories go, I just finished one titled Retribution, and will be submitting it to a big time anthology. If it is picked up I will gain more exposure for the Exodus series, in my mind a good thing. If that story is not picked up I will put it up as a freebie on my website and this blog, and try them with another. I am also working on a proposal for a big time publishing contract. I’m not sure if that will be Exodus. I would prefer to keep Exodus as a self pubbed series, so I can put out books as I want. So a lot going on, including a memoir about growing up in a small West Florida Gulf Coast Town that will probably not be of interest to my scifi fans, and is more of a local interest story.

I hope everyone will keep reading, and I will try to keep the primary series going along. Thanks.

Aura is my fantasy novel about three siblings, fraternal triplets, trying to survive in a land of evil. The book has sold 136 copies to date, despite a 4.8 average over four reviews, and what one reviewer said, “This has got to be one of the best reads available in this genre.” So as an experiment I commissioned a new cover for the book on the advice of a fan who owns a bookstore.

I am very impressed with this cover, which is now live on Amazon both for ebooks and paperback. It was created by friend and fellow Tallahassee Writer’s Association member Elizabeth Babski, who runs Babski Creative Studios. She worked very closely with me to get just what I wanted, from the faces of the triplets, to the pyramid and dragon. I think that she did a great job, and soon I will start to promote the book with this new cover and see what happens. She also designed a book themed logo.

I am seriously thinking of having her design the cover for the Exodus 4 book I will be putting out in the Fall. For those looking for a unique and professionally designed cover, I can think of no better place to go.